Were The Closing Moments Of Last Night's "True Detective" Influenced By Comic Legend Alan Moore?

At this point it’s pretty well known that True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto cited the work of comic book legend Alan Moore as one of his biggest influences growing up. And any fan of Moore’s work can pinpoint some philosophical similarities between the themes in True Detective and works like Watchmen, From Hell, and a number of other comics from Moore. But it looks like one of Moore’s lesser known works, Top 10, might be one of the show’s biggest influences.

In an article on Vulture, writer Abraham Riesman pointed out a distinct similarity between Rust’s last conversation with Marty during the season finale and a specific panel from Top 10. Here’s the dialogue from the show:

RUST: Y'know, you're looking at it wrong, the sky thing. MARTY: How's that? RUST: Once, there was only dark. You ask me, the light's winning.

And now here is the panel in question:

This seems like more of a tip of the cap to Moore than any kind of plagiarism on Pizzolatto’s part. True Detective was full of homage, tributes, and allusions to literature and film, and this piece of dialogue just so happens to fit in with the story so perfectly.

For more on Pizzolatto’s possible comic book influence, also check out this exhaustive rundown over on Geek Rex.